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Harry Potter Readalong, Order of the Phoenix II: "Does this mean they're going to shut down the Gobstones Club?"

RIGHT. So. Halfway through.Umbridge is a lovely vessel for cathartic anger.Hermione saying "V-Voldemort" is seriously cute, only wtf because she didn't grow up being afraid of his name, so her reaction should be like Harry's and what's going onnnnnnn, book.

I'm really, very much not looking forward to Grawp.

Also:

The Hog's Head bar comprised one small, dingy, and very dirty room that smelled strongly of something that might have been goats.

I guess I'll just address the main reason I dislike Sirius, as it's pretty much what fucks things later on. Let's look at the end of the chapter "Percy and Padfoot." Sirius appears in the fire. Very nice. Sirius yet again offers, like an idiot, but a cooped-up, been-in-Azkaban-and-now-is-trapped-in-a-hated-house idiot (so it's understandable), to "disguise" himself and see Harry in Hogsmeade.Harry, finally NOT acting an idiot, says no. Rather than just look disappointed, or perhaps stew on his own, the following assholery happens:

"You're less like your father than I thought," he said finally, a definite coolness in his voice. "The risk would've been what made it fun for James."

OMG Sirius you're SUCH. an ASSHOLE. This is primarily why I get touchy about him and am utterly confused as to why people love him. Because no. Nope. Sure, Harry's pretty terrible in this book. Especially when he won't stop saying lame things to Umbridge that keep getting him detention. But what Sirius says, in this fit of complete dickdom, is:

1) Extremely painful because Harry never knew his parents, and people likening him to his dad is one of his sure sources of joy in the first five years

2) Said to someone who essentially only has him and who has until now (post-PoA) solely seen him in the light of a friend, guardian and protector

3) Completely disregarding the danger not only to Sirius, but to Harry, who if caught with a known mass murderer in the guise of an unregistered Animagus, could easily be sent to Azkaban. It's not like Sirius is unaware of the Ministry's feelings towards Harry.

4) As mentioned, this has dire consequences at the end. I would argue Harry's actions there are at the very least in part because of this earlier statement.Basically Sirius is the worst.

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